News commentary and analysis from the
Louisiana Federation of Teachers

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Pastorek: state needs policy on foreign teacher recruiters

Responding to the scandalous treatment of Filipino teachers by the firm that recruited them to work in Louisiana, State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek now says the state should have a policy governing the use of such recruiters.

As reporter Karina Donica writes here for the Alexandria Town Talk, several local school districts and the state Recovery School District have hired upwards of 300 Filipino teachers through a company called Universal Placement International. These districts, she writes, "could be facing significant penalties if it's found the firm broke federal law."

In the Town Talk report, Pastorek tells the reporter that the state has also recruited teachers from Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, France and Canada. Those teachers have been hired through international trade agreements, and not through recruiters like Universal Placement.

Universal and its president, Lourdes Navarro, are the subjects of official complaints filed by the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and our national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers.

To see a complete list of EdLog entries about the Filipino teachers and the story of their abuse, please click here.

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